Team Niklas (The Saints Team #3) (15 page)

I could feel his erection pushing
and filling me as he began to pump me. One hand moved away from slipping up the
folds of my lips and moved up my body, finding my nipple, tweaking it unexpectedly
and sending all my nerve endings on alert. I cried out again as he worked my
nipple between his finger, pumped into me harder and harder and his thumb
pressed against my anus, not entering it but giving me the sensation that he
might, putting my body on erotic alert.

He hammered into me and I moaned,
wanting more, loving the feeling of being one. As my body came again, shaking
with total pleasure, he hissed my name through clenched teeth and came, his
whole body vibrating and his grip on me so tight I could barely breathe. We
worked through it, letting it rise and flow and then I felt his weight on me as
he slumped forward, holding his weight but pushing us both flat on the bed, his
penis remaining inside me. I don’t know how long we stayed there but I felt him
pull out, dispose of the condom and return to hold me. When I eventually opened
my eyes and turned to face him, his crystal blue eyes were watching me.

“I didn’t think I was going to
make it home after you told me you had nothing under that dress,” he said,
softly.

“I admire your control,” I teased
him. “That Nik, was unbelievable.” I smiled. We were a mess—sticky, wet, happy.

“What a great end to a great night.”
He sighed.

It hadn’t been lost on me that yet
again, Nik didn’t want me to see his scars.

I jostled and pushed him on his
back. I knew he wasn’t comfortable being exposed completely naked front on but
it was time to tackle this. I saw his eyes flick to where his t-shirt lay over
a chair but that was not going to happen. I leaned up on one elbow and began to
trail my fingers over his tanned chest.

I looked at his largest tattoo: a
detailed Celtic design sun with the German words ‘
Untergegangen um wieder zu
steigen
’ inked below it.

“What does that mean?” I asked
pronouncing it awkwardly.

Nik laughed at my pronunciation
and said it quickly and fluidly. “It means ‘
set to rise again
’,” he
translated it for me. I noticed Nik’s breathing was jagged as he waited for my
questions.

“That’s beautiful, but you use a
lot of words for a short sentence,” I said.

Nik grinned. “We Germans like our
words long.”

“Yes, long is good,” I agreed,
teasing him. “Why the sun?”

“The sun gives light to guide
through dark times... the tatt is about survival,” he said, and I nodded, not
pushing it.

He took my hand and stopped my
journey across his chest.

“We both don’t have to work this
weekend,” he said, referring to his playing and my Saints’ media work.

Ah here it comes, at least he
brought it up.

“We are free spirits,” I agreed.

“Have you planned anything?” he
asked.

“Not yet, I haven’t given it much
thought,” I said, as casually as I could muster.

“I meant to ask you earlier, but I
forgot with Russian knocking me out... I booked a weekend away for us if that’s
okay? I can cancel it if you don’t want to go, but do you think you could take
Friday off if Jim will let you?”

“Sure, I have time owing, a lot
actually. Where are we going?” I asked, excitement bubbling inside me.

“I thought you could take me
shopping, then I could take you shopping and we could try a few different
dining experiences...”

I sat grinning at him like an
idiot. “That would be great. But men don’t like shopping, you’ll be bored after
an hour.”

“I’ll be with you and watching
you, and I could do that all day,” he said. “We can do some tourist stuff too,
huh? You haven’t asked where I’ve booked it.”

“Where?” I asked.

“New York, the city. Is that
okay?”

“New York City,” I squealed, “hell
yeah, that’s fantastic. There’s so much good shopping there—I have to do some
research... there’s this amazing haberdashery store in Harlem, and great shops
in Brooklyn and Williamsburg, plus there’s really good vintage markets...” I
noticed Nik grinning at me and I hugged him, knocking him back on his back.

“I heard there was a very good Victoria’s
Secrets store there too,” he teased. “I have to take you there.”

“I’ll add it to the list but we’re
guy shopping first!” I clapped my hands. “Thank you, Nik, that will be so much
fun,” I said, kissing him all over.

He laughed and looked so pleased
to have pleased me.

“How are we getting there?” I
stopped to ask.

“Well it’s about five-and-a-half
hours flying time, but we lose a few hours in time difference so if we leave
early Friday we’ll be there late afternoon, just in time to check in, take a
walk through Central Park because I’m dying to see it together, go for a drink,
and go out for dinner later. Then Saturday is all yours... you will have to
plan it... I’ll need plenty of coffee I suspect... and Sunday we’ll fly home
after midday but we get the time difference back so we’ll get home mid-afternoon.
Okay?”

“More than okay, brilliant,” I
said, still squealing.

“We fly from the local airport
here direct. Early start.”

“I’m good with early,” I assured
him. “This is so exciting. I have to do some shopping research. What will I
wear?” I could hardly sit still.

Nik grabbed me closer. “Before you
fly away planning this adventure, I have to tell you something,” he said,
seriously.

“Sure.” I settled down and looked
at him.

“I know I was a bit out of it at
the hospital, Sah-sha, but I meant what I said to you. I love you, I am in love
with you, and I promise you, my past can’t hurt us,” he said. Before I could
respond he pulled me towards him and kissed me as though he needed me.

Chapter 18

I woke up so happy and it was hard to get to work on time with Nik trying
to pull me back into bed all the time—he was taking full advantage of not
having any training this morning. I had to banish him to the kitchen while I
showered and even then he kept sneaking in to watch my silhouette in the smoky shower
frame.

I heard him groan and the next minute he was in with
me.

“Nik, I’m going to be late.” I playfully hit his arm
as he curled his body around me, his erection pressing hard against me.

“And I’m going to come if you let me,” he responded.
He leaned down to take one of my nipples in his mouth.

“Not fair,” I moaned and between waves of pleasure, I
studied my German man; he looked pretty damn sexy wet. I pulled away, dropped
to my knees in my huge shower and caught him by surprise, taking him in my
mouth. He leaned back against the wall and muttered a few encouraging German
words—at least I think they were encouraging because I’d heard them before a
few times when I was doing something similar.

My shower was perfect for giving head—I designed it to
be sexy but I didn’t realize just how perfect it would be. Score one for me, or
Nik pretty soon. I gave it to him all in one package and fast: the teasing, the
ball touching, the deep sucking—women are great multi-skillers. I could hear
his breath hitching and within minutes he was pulling my mouth off him.

“I’m going to come,” he said, and I finished that off
quickly too with some slippery and sneaky hand moves.

“Holy fuck,” he said, spilling over my hand. “I didn’t
mean to come that fast... but I don’t think I had any control...” he said
between breaths and looking at me as thought I had just conquered him.

I grinned and rose. “That’s the idea, buddy—I’ve got
to get to work and I like to leave my man happy.”

“Hell, I’ve just been worked over,” he said with a
smile, breathing out. He reached for me to reciprocate and I blocked him with
the soap.

“I’m more of a mid-morning, lunch, afternoon, night
person,” I said, “but you can make me very happy if you make me coffee and
raisin toast while I dress.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, before taking my nipple in
his mouth again and moving his hand down my body and slipping a finger inside
me. I jolted as all my nerve endings betrayed me and I heard the satisfied
groans coming from my throat—my body was just doing its own thing.

He released my nipple. “Not even a little bit of a
morning person?” he asked but didn’t wait for an answer. Instead he slipped
that finger right back out, whirled me around to face the shower wall and from
behind, he began tracing circles around my clit with one finger and began
working my nipple with the other, pressing his body against me. I took only a
few minutes more than Nik did to give into it, water beating down on me as he
slipped his hands around parts of my body.

He held me until I stopped shuddering and then he
lightly smacked my butt.

“Hurry up or you’re going to be later. I’ll get that
raisin toast packed to go.” He walked out of the shower and I watched him towel
dry—great ass, great back, such solid legs, beautiful shoulders—and then he put
his track pants and t-shirt back on and disappeared to the kitchen. Yep, I
think I might be a morning person after all.

*****

We moved our usual beer and burger night at the local hotel from
Wednesday night to Thursday night because Max and Ren had a family thing on the
Wednesday night—Ren’s mom’s birthday—but they still wanted to catch up. It was lovely
how accepting Ren’s family was of Max, Ren’s mom loved him. It helped that Max
did her hair too.

“You know Thursday is not beer and burger night,”
Ethan said, drily. “It’s pots and pasta night. But luckily, I’m good with
that.”

“Me too,” I agreed.

“I’m still having a wine regardless,” Max said. “My
turn to order,” he said, and taking our money and orders, headed to the counter
with Ren on hand to help out.

“How’s Nik?” Ethan asked. “Tell me he’s still on the
scene please?”

I studied my sweet, older brother who looked so
worried for me.

“He’s on the scene and it’s great, surprisingly
great,” I said, and he grinned, pleased. “No really great,” I said again. “I
went from not interested to trying to avoid him and now to right in amongst it
so to speak... that’s not good is it?”

Ethan bit his lip and shrugged. “There’s no rule book
but maybe this time, just don’t marry him in three months like last time. I’m
not saying you wouldn’t have made your marriage work, but living with Adam
first probably would have shown you he’s not so good at ‘until death do we
part’.”

I nodded. “You got that right. Can I ask you something
before Maxie and Ren return?”

“Sure,” he said, and leaned forward. He looked
particularly handsome tonight in a navy hoodie, white t-shirt underneath and
pale jeans—a bit sailorish.

“You know Nik’s an orphan and Anton more or less
confirmed that Nik was abused by one of his foster parents...”

Ethan nodded, keeping up.

“He said something strange to me last night,” I said,
lowering my voice. “I touched his scars and he said ‘I promise my past can’t
hurt us,’ or something like that. What does that mean? Should I be worried?”

Ethan frowned as he thought about the words. “Well,
like I said, there’s no manual for this stuff, but I’m guessing it could be one
of two things. He is being hunted by a hitman or the mafia and he’s over here
getting away from them and while you’re both here, he’s feeling safer...”

I grimaced at my brother. “What’s your second
suggestion and let’s hope it is better.”

“Abandoned or abused children often think they’re not
worthy of love, in their mind that’s why they’ve been abandoned. Nik’s
experienced it twice—his own parents didn’t want him so he was fostered out,
then he had a foster parent who abuses him. Kids can think they’re at fault. So
I’m just having a shot in the dark here, but Nik’s learnt from all this...”

“Learned not to trust?” I interrupted to ask.

“Not necessarily,” Ethan continued. “He could have
learned some positive things like who to trust and how to cope with trauma, but
his view of how stable and safe the world is, is probably shot.”

“Interesting you should say that because when he woke
from the concussion and was a bit disorientated, he asked Anton were they
safe,” I said.

Ethan nodded, thinking about that. “In terms of what
he said to you, that his past can’t hurt the two of you—traumatic experiences
can cause someone to think things will go wrong at a moment's notice and that
there’s a risk getting close, but he’s saying he’ll take that risk if you do.
Or, he may think that he’s worked hard now—he’s successful and got financial
stability so he’s not undesirable like he was as a kid, in his mind anyway.
It’s hard to know. But, often kids from adversity also work hard to do
something valuable with their lives. He’s doing that.”

I exhaled. “Wow, makes you realize how really good we
had it. How do I get it right so I make him feel safe?” I asked Ethan.

“Same way you would anyone else,” he said, “love him,
tell him that, be supportive, be kind.” Then Ethan read me well, like he always
did... he could see right through me.

“Sassy, don’t over think this or think it is a burden,
just go out with the man he is now. You like him, you love him?”

I raised my eyebrows, sort of confirming both.

“Then live in the now as he’s asking you to.”

Chapter 19

I was at the front door waiting for Nik to pick me up
in a taxi on Friday morning at six-thirty when I got his text to say he was one
minute away. I was convinced we were going to miss the plane... we might have
only had to go a short distance to the airport but we were cutting it fine for
a seven-fifteen take off. Jim was happy for me to take the day off, as the club
didn’t like staff getting to much leave accumulated. Kay took the day off too
which meant poor Alice would have the whole area to herself or maybe that was a
good thing. She was green with envy—I like to shop but Alice loved to shop and
she was good at it, so she helped me with my Saturday New York City shopping
list. I don’t think Nik had realized what he got himself into.

I saw the taxi coming down the
street and it pulled up beside me. Nik jumped out, gave me a kiss and grabbed
my bag, pushing it into the trunk as the taxi driver held it open.

“You look gorgeous,” he said, and
gave my black felt hat a tug. I was just wearing jeans, black high heel boots,
a white button down shirt and black jacket but it pleased Nik. I glanced
towards the taxi trunk with our bags in it and noticed Nik had brought a small
overnight bag for himself and a suitcase.

“Wow, you’ve travelled heavy,” I
said. He had more than me.

“The suitcase is empty Süsse,” he
teased. “I thought you were serious about this shopping exercise?” He opened
the taxi’s back door and I slid into the seat and moved over as Nik got in
beside me.

“You think of everything,” I said,
admiring him.

“I hope so,” he said. He leaned
over to kiss me and tasted of toothpaste and smelled of soap and fresh cologne.
“Morning,” he said, as he pulled away.

“Morning, my guy. I’m so excited I
couldn’t sleep. I hope we won’t miss the plane...” I shuffled on the seat with
excitement.

“We won’t miss the plane,” he
promised. He was clearly more relaxed than I was about catching planes. The
driver took off quickly—I suspected he was worried he’d have a freaking-out
female in the back seat if we were late.

Nik reached for my hand and
engulfed it with his large one. I was so excited to have the day off and be
going away for a weekend, looking at fabrics, shopping for Nik, sightseeing,
being with Nik. Sigh, it doesn’t get any better does it?

“Got the tickets?” I asked as the
thought occurred to me.

He nodded. “We don’t need
passports before you ask.”

I gave him a smirk, but it had crossed
my mind.

“Where are we staying?” I asked.

“I booked
The Pierre
on E 61
Street. Anton said it has a very good view of Central Park and a very good
bathroom,” he said, suggestively. “I hope it will be all right.”

“We’re going to New York City together
for a long weekend; the youth hostel would have been fine,” I assured him,
squeezing his hand with excitement. Seriously I was like a school kid on an
excursion!

The airport was in sight and
instead of going to the domestic departures, our taxi driver followed a
different road and several minutes later we stopped in front of a charter area.
I looked from the driver to Nik and back.

“Thank you,” Nik said, and gave
the driver the fare and a tip. Before I could ask any questions they were both
out of the car and I followed. Nik put my bag and his small bag into the one
empty suitcase, and we thanked the driver again, moving out of the way as he
departed. Nik headed towards a gated entrance.

I stopped. “Where’s the plane?”

“There,” Nik said, nodding towards
a small plane.

“You’ve chartered us a plane?” I
said, my eyes huge.

“It’s the quickest way to get
there, it’ll save us time,” Nik said, so matter-of-factly that I laughed. He
took two steps back to where I stood rooted on the spot, took my hand and led
me along. “Come on, you don’t want to miss it, remember?”

I think my mouth was open and I
snapped it shut once I realized.

“You’ve chartered us a flight to
New York?” I said, again, hustling to keep up with his long strides even if he
did have my hand.

“Sure, it’ll be fun,” he answered.

I’m not sure what happened then
because I think I was in a mild state of shock, but in less than fifteen
minutes we were ushered into the gorgeous plane interior, we met the captain
and were given the safety demo. Our luggage was stored, I was sitting back on a
big white leather chair and looking at Nik opposite me, his legs wrapped around
mine.

“I told you we wouldn’t miss it,”
he said, with the hint of a smile.

“Nik, this is amazing, it’s too
much,” I said. We began to taxi for take-off.

“Too much what?” Nik asked, with a
frown.

“We’re spending your money dining
out, now flying and staying the weekend in New York. I don’t want to send you
broke.”

Nik grinned. “I think I’ll be
okay.”

“Seriously,” I continued. “You
know money isn’t a big deal to me but Lucas and Tomás have houses... and I’m
the daughter of a developer, you need to invest and not throw away money on me
on meals and weekends away and chartered planes...” I was raving now.

Nik held up his hand in a stop
motion and then he took mine. He went to speak but we began take-off and we
stopped to watch the plane rising and the ground disappearing below us. When we
were stable, and the captain removed the seatbelt sign, Nik moved over to sit
next to me.

“Sah-sha, I don’t want you
worrying about money, but I appreciate it. Anton is my financial adviser, and
I’m an accountant, so we have it all worked out. I have several residential
properties and a couple of commercial properties rented out in Germany; I have
stocks and shares, and my expenses here are very low... I pay next to nothing
living with Cassie and Alice. I can spend a bit of money having a good time. I’m
investing in you,” he said.

“But what if it is not a good
investment or you want your money back?” I asked.

“It’s a great investment and I’ve
already had more in returns than I dreamed off. I’m here with you,” he looked
at me intensely. “I want you to relax about this now Sah-sha, think of it as
spending some of the bank’s interest on my account. I’ve pre-paid everything I
could for this trip, I have a card ready for us to go shopping and I’m cashed
up. No more talk of it, just fun. Ja?”

God this man was gorgeous.

He pulled me closer. “Agreed?” he
said again, and I nodded.

“Good,” he said, and then we
kissed. A wonderful romantic, long, wet, tongue kiss that left me weak. When he
released my lips, he pulled me onto his lap to straddle him and his huge
erection.

“I’ve never flown like this before,”
I said, wide-eyed with surprise.

“I hope not,” he said, pushing
against me. “We have our own supplies,” he said, with a glance to the small
kitchen-bar area, so there’ll be no interruptions, no flight attendants,” Nik
said and slipped off my jacket. “I know you’re not big on morning sex...”

“Oh I am,” I assured him. “I just
said that yesterday to throw you off track so I could get to work on time.”

“A very good strategy that didn’t
work,” Nik said recalling our shower episode. He began to undo the buttons on
my white shirt revealing my white lace bra and I think his erection just got
harder if that was possible.

“Sah-sha, so beautiful,” he said
trailing his fingers over the lace and watching as my nipples hardened and
protruded into the lace. He continued to work them until I distracted him by
undoing his belt and unzipping his jeans. I worked them slightly down his hips;
he cooperated fully lifting us both slightly... truly remarkable how that
weights training can come in useful.

He wriggled to get a condom out of
his jeans pocket and I took it from him, released his penis from his white
boxers—very hot too may I say—and slipped the condom on. I rose slightly,
slipped my jeans down and re-straddled him, leaving my brief lace thong on for
Nik to work around. He made a very impressive guttural sound in his throat when
he saw it. I rose on my knees, my breast just at his mouth level—honestly, I
hadn’t intended that, it was just a lucky bonus, and he moved aside the lace on
my bra cup to apply his tongue to my begging nipple.

Then I slipped down onto him. His
hands grabbed my hips, moving me into place slowly. He pulled away from my
breast long enough to look at me and murmur my name. Then I gave him some
movement. His hand gripped the back of my neck and I rocked on him, watching as
his jaw locked and he closed his eyes, feeling me around him. His breathing
increased and so did my mine—fuck what a great way to start the day, I could
feel him right up to my spine. Being in control of the lap dance, I moved to
get him in just the right place, applying just the right friction and suddenly
I realized I was going to come before him. My hand shot out to his shoulders
and my nails dug into him. I called out his name, or I think I did... I might
have called out “God, yes,” as well.

Nik read my movements and moved me
faster, controlling my hips. We both came in uncontrolled pleasure—my back
arching, my breasts pushing towards him and Nik burying his face in my chest. I
felt him pumping into me, his body shuddering, I love that. We breathed heavily,
finding each other’s mouths and kissing between breaths.

I drew back and eventually I
dropped my chin onto his head as he wrapped his arms around me tightly,
pressing his cheek against my chest.

“I love you, Sarsh. I am truly
happy,” he said, and I couldn’t stop the tears welling in my eyes. I wanted to
protect him, to give him everything and make the rest of his life so happy. I
pulled away, blinked my eyes clear and looked at him. He smiled a slow, sexy
smile and I bit my lip.

“Ich liebe dich,” I said, to him
and his eyes lit up and then he laughed. I playfully hit him. “What? I’ve been
practicing with the online translator.”

“It was perfect
Süsse, perfect,” he said, smiling and studying me.

“Really?”
I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“Absolutely!
Thank you. Now I need to get rid of this condom and you need to cover yourself,”
he said.

He
lifted me off him and I adjusted my bra, did up my shirt and jeans and watched
as Nik did the same.

“Can
we make a coffee?” I asked, studying the kitchen.

“I
imagine so,” Nik said, disappearing into the small bathroom. He resurfaced and
found me in the kitchenette with two cups, coffee, a percolator, milk, cream,
boxed cereal, fresh fruit, fresh muffins and more.

“Look
what I found! I’m always hungry after sex and we haven’t had breakfast.” I eyed
off the muffins.

“Speaking
of food, I was thinking we could meet Anton and his girlfriend for dinner
Saturday night if that was okay with you? We need to have dinner tonight just
the two of us. What do you think?” he asked.

“Sure,
that would be fun,” I agreed. “Have you met his girlfriend?”

Nik
shook his head in the negative. “She’s a local and I think you would call her
an extro...”

“Extrovert,”
I helped.

“Yes
that’s what Anton says. He’s fairly quiet, so she might be good for him,” Nik
said.

I
carried our coffees back to the chair and came back for a muffin. Nik selected
several boxes of cereal and was making a mix.

“I
want to walk through Central Park this afternoon together after we check in to
the hotel. Okay? It’s in walking distance,” Nik said.

“Sure.
Then, let’s have a bath together and drink champagne. Does it have a bath?” I
asked.

“Of
course, it was a prerequisite to my search. I know you are particular about
your bathroom, and it has a beautiful one.” Nik joined me again on the big
white leather chairs. We were awake now and full of questions and plans. “Have
you got your shopping destinations sorted for tomorrow?”

“Absolutely,” I assured
him, “but I’m not telling you in advance in case I freak you out,” I said.

“Did you put Victoria’s
Secrets on the list?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes
Süsse,” I copied him, making him laugh again.

“Good. Then as long as
I get to wake up with you, make love to you, see you try on underwear and taste
you, nothing will freak me out.”

I fanned myself. I
should have had a cold drink.